The Adventure of the Second Wife: The Strange Case of Abdülahamid and Sherlock Holmes

A dark mystery buried in the history of a dying empire which generations of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts could never solve – until now.What did Arthur Conan Doyle mean by that now infamous remark, uttered towards the very end of his life, that the only Sherlock Holmes story with the power to intrigue him was ‘The Adventure of the Second Wife’? For there was no such story.It falls to an unlikely pair – a London doctor and a literature professor from Istanbul – to unravel the clues to this puzzling mystery, clues that lie buried in the stories of their own families and lead back to the fin-de-siècle court of Abdülhamid II, the last Ottoman ruler to command the world stage.Historians write of the Sultan’s addiction to Sherlock Holmes. He would even have the stories read to him as he lay in bed at night – an obsession (it is now safe to reveal) that was to save his life and alter the course of a dying empire. But solving one mystery can mean disturbing other, darker secrets, such as the real story of ‘The Second Wife’.Table of ContentsPart OneTHE FIRST WIFEExhibit ‘A’The Sultan’s Gaoler 10Chapter 1The Arrival of Leyla ArslanChapter 2The MysteryChapter 3My Legacy to AnanditaChapter 42WIFChapter 5I Buy a TicketChapter 6The HoneymoonersChapter 7More Toby than MycroftChapter 8Uncle FredChapter 9EstağfurullahExhibit ‘B’‘The Adventure of the Second Wife’The introduction attributed to A. Conan DoylePart TwoELLEChapter 10Grandfather EsadChapter 11The Mystery of the Centre ForwardChapter 12The Death of ElleChapter 13The DamatChapter 14The Mosque of the Holy MantleChapter 15The Capricious Bladder of Adile SultanChapter 16Leyla Pays for Lunch‘The Adventure of the Second Wife’– attributed to A. Conan Doyle translated by Leyla ArslanPart ThreeCONSTANTINOPLE IN LONDONChapter 17The Adventure of the Polka-Dotted CummerbundChapter 18The Theatre of LifeChapter 19Pumpkin CurryChapter 20Royal BloodPart Four‘The power of complexity and the complexity of power’Chapter 21The Tale of the Sultan’s GaolerChapter 22The Purloined LetterChapter 23Our Grandfathers MeetChapter 24An Early Morning in the Abode of FelicityThe Adventure of the Second Wife’ – attributed to A. Conan DoyleChapter 25‘The Tragedy of Proud Love’Part FiveTHE SECOND WIFEChapter 26The Bushwacking Sentries of BhurteeChapter 27The Deadliest SinChapter 28The Game Was AfootChapter 29The Earth MovesPart Six‘AND YET I THINK OF YOU’Chapter 30A GhostChapter 31The LoreleyChapter 32The Rescue from the InfernoChapter 33Aqua TofanaChapter 34The SmileChapter 35The Rotten MolarChapter 36The Bearers of the Sultan’s CommissionChapter 37An Incident Hard to Reconcile with the Settled Order of NatureChapter 38A Final DestinationChapter 39SnakeChapter 40The (Final) Tale of the Sultan’s GaolerAcknowledgements